The interrogation room was freezing. Luna Roscente stared at the screen.
The footage froze.
A child's face twisted with malice.
Her fingers trembled.
Color drained from her cheeks.
She knew.
It was over.
Years of pretense came crashing down.
Her carefully laid plans had become a joke.
No tears fell.
No pleas escaped her.
She suddenly looked up.
Her gaze pierced through the one-way mirror.
I knew she could see us.
Then she laughed.
A mad, shrill sound.
"Yes! It was me!"
Her scream tore through the air.
"I took her! I sold her! Why? Why did she get everything from birth?"
"Beautiful dresses, a warm home, a loving family!"
"And me? Only a human trafficker for a mother! Learning deception since childhood! Learning to pretend! Learning to be bait!"
"That day I saw her. Her mother gently wiped ice cream from her lips! I was sick with jealousy!"
"All that should have been mine!"
Hatred contorted her features.
"I succeeded! I became your daughter! You loved me! Spoiled me! Gave me everything!"
"I thought I'd won!"
"Why bring her back? Why let her destroy everything I built!"
She lunged at the officers.
Trying to grab a gun.
"Die! All of you just die!"
Liam Anderson burst through the door.
He seized Luna's shoulders.
His eyes bloodshot.
"Why... Luna... How did our family ever wrong you..."
Luna stopped struggling.
The madness faded.
Replaced by eerie pity.
"Wrong me? You never wronged me, Liam."
Tears streamed down her smiling face.
"You were just stupid."
"The most foolish man I've ever known."
"A hopeless idiot who fell in love with the devil."
Those words broke Liam.
His grip loosened.
He collapsed to his knees.
A wounded animal's howl escaped his throat.